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(1921 - 1995)
Patricia Highsmith was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in New York. She
was educated at the Julia Richmond Highschool in Manhattan and then at Columbia
University, where she earned her B.A. in 1942. Her first novel, Strangers on
a Train (1950), tells the story of a tennis player and a psychotic who meet
on a train and agree to swap murders. The terrifying tale caught the attention
of director Alfred Hitchcock, who, with Raymond Chandler, filmed it in 1951.
Both the book and the resulting movie are considered to be classics of the crime
genre. Highsmith's subsequent novels, particularly five featuring the dashing
forger/murderer Tom Ripley, have been vastly popular and critically acclaimed.
In 1957 Highsmith won the coveted French Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere and
in 1964 was awarded the Silver Dagger by the British Crime Writers Association.
As a reclusive person, Highsmith spent much of her life alone. She moved
permanently to Europe in 1963 and spent her final years in an isolated house near
Locarno on the Swiss-Italian border. Upon her death, Highsmith left three
million dollars of her estate to Yaddo, the artist community in upstate New York.
Patricia Highsmith titles available
from Vintage Crime/Black Lizard:
